On Wednesday and Thursday, a seven-member expert Iranian team will meet with counterparts from the P5+1, the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany, to prepare the groundwork for the Geneva talks.

All meetings will be held behind closed doors except the IAEA talks that will be followed by a news conference with the new Chief Inspector Tero Varjoranta.

Western powers believe that Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at acquiring atomic weapons but Tehran denies this and insists its program is for civilian “peaceful” purposes.

It has defied multiple UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions and has continued to expand its nuclear program over the years.

But since becoming president in August, moderate Hassan Rouhani, has raised hopes that the crisis can be resolved with the latest diplomatic rapprochement with the United States.

“We hope Iran and the agency can adopt a new approach, in a spirit of goodwill, and can get down to resolving the remaining ambiguities in a short period,” Araqchi told the ISNA news agency Friday, according to AFP.